11/23/2012

A Brief Defense of Lindsey Stone, Facebook Idiot:
The Rude Pundit's not gonna post the picture of fucktard Lindsey Stone taking a stupid picture in front of the Tomb of the Unknowns. Actually, the photo itself, of the aforementioned fucktard acting like she was yelling and actually flipping the bird in front of a sign that reads, "Silence and Respect," is not that fucktarded; it's kind of mildly funny in an "I think I'm so clever and ironic when really I'm just an obnoxious asshole" sort of way, like an old Adam Sandler movie. Indeed, if that photo was done by Cartman in an episode of South Park, everyone would have been praising how daring those Parker and Stone fellas are. What's fucktarded is posting it on Facebook and being so much of a fucktard that you believe everyone will get your oh-so-rebellious challenge to authoritah joke. Hopefully, Stone has changed her privacy settings and booted a few "friends."

But getting fired over it because an internet mob thought you suck, even though you're good at your job, as Stone and a coworker were, even though they apologized (even though they shouldn't have had to because fuck you if you're offended)? That's bullshit, and if the ACLU isn't on this like stink on a rotting turkey carcass, then it's pretty much given up finding the "civil liberties" in one's online postings. If Stone had masturbated with the femur of the Unknown Corpse, then we'd've had something to talk about, something other, than, you know, freedom of expression. But this photo wasn't even meant to be made widely public, unlike others who have posted racist screeds on YouTube or anything Ann Coulter writes.

There's something miserable about a nation that will come together in virtual umbrage over a 30-year old acting like a fool until said fool's life is completely tossed in the shitter, but that same nation will allow certain Wall Street executives to go on with their cushy lives, thinking that the real and actual (not perceived) harm they did is not worth their time or Facebook clicking. Another current example? Whatever you think about David Petraeus's politics, the man should not have had to resign from the CIA just because he and an adult woman made the adult decision to have an affair.

You want a life-lesson on how vulnerable you are? Check out the stalkeriffic profile page someone set up to disparage Stone, which examines every public account Stone has/had. Read the right-wing attacks on her. Perhaps the problem is not actually the victimless stupidity that the
stupid will do, but the scrambling of others trying to scream louder
than the next person, hoping that someone will pay attention to them for
pointing out the stupidity.

The presumption of privacy is gone, daddy, gone, unless you lock yourself away from every bit of technology that's out there. We need to figure out how the freedom that privacy once granted us can be translated to this new world so that we are able to dismiss the truly harmless acts of idiots and move on to the shit that's actually important.